Australia: Smitten by a not-so-black Maria

Mark Chipperfield visits Maria Island in Tasmania, home of the happy convict

12:01AM GMT 25 Jan 2003

If Mike Myers ever wants to make an Austin Powers-style spoof about convict life in Tasmania, the old penitentiary on Maria Island would provide a rich vein of material.

Back in the days when the words Van Diemen's Land struck terror into the hearts of Britain's criminal fraternity, Maria Island was a model of penal ineptitude.

Far from dreading their incarceration, canny old lags deliberately committed minor offences so that they could enjoy Maria Island's indulgent conditions.

William Smith O'Brien, a founder of the Irish labour movement and the jail's most celebrated inmate, described the island "as one of the loveliest spots formed by the hand of nature" and delighted in its sandstone cliffs, teeming birdlife and romantic ambience.

When Tasmania's Lieutenant-Governor, Sir George Arthur, toured the facilities, he complained that inmates were serving out their time in "agreeable pleasure grounds" and ordered the erection of sterner-looking accommodation.

A succession of embarrassing scandals - including the revelation that prisoners were helping the magistrate's wife to brew beer - forced the Colonial Office in London to order a high-level report.

By then, so many convicts were paddling across to the mainland that the open-door penitentiary was a laughing stock in Hobart. Escapees were rarely apprehended; in one case, police stumbled on a group of convicts only after themselves becoming lost in the bush.

By the end of 1850, Maria Island (pronounced Mari-ah, as in black maria) had outlived its usefulness as a place of detention and was turned over to sheep farmers, whalers and, it is widely rumoured, smugglers.

As a result, much of the original prison complex at Darlington has survived into the 21st century. The long penitentiary building, mess hall, chapel and administration block are in remarkably good condition, as is the stone commissariat store that greets visitors as they step ashore from the ferry.

Ironically, Mercury Passage, the narrow strip of water convicts found so easy to conquer in their homemade bark canoes, has kept the old convict settlement quarantined from the modern world.

According to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which administers the island, fewer than 20,000 people make the crossing each year - making Maria Island Tasmania's least-visited national park.

And while the 25-minute crossing from Orford means that Maria is an ideal destination for day-trippers, the only way to experience its windswept beauty is by staying overnight. Either camp out or rent one of the old stone cells (each equipped with bunk beds, mattresses, a table and chairs and a wood-fired stove). Best of all, paddle your own sea kayak across and camp on a deserted beach.

Freycinet Adventures operates four-day, fully guided kayaking trips to Maria Island. Although pitched at experienced kayakers, this is a fairly laid-back adventure and could be tackled by anyone with reasonable kayaking skills.

Apart from their expertise with paddle and compass, Freycinet's guides also prove themselves to be dab hands around the campfire. In addition to the gourmet suppers, Scott Williams, who accompanied me to Maria Island, managed to conjure copious quantities of trout pate, smoked chicken breast, olives and Tasmanian cheese from the storage space inside his kayak.

Although Maria Island is only 12 miles long and seven miles wide, there is no danger of feeling claustrophobic or running out of places to explore, on foot or mountainbike. The island is home to Forester kangaroos, Bennetts wallabies, Cape Barren geese, native hens, oyster-catchers, hooded plovers and the rare forty-spotted pardalote.

Those who wish to steep themselves in the melancholy past should spend a few minutes in the hilltop cemetery above the main jetty. Among the graves is a headstone belonging to Hohepa te Umuroa, a warrior captured during the Maori Wars. His remains were returned to New Zealand in 1988.

But there is nothing particularly grim about Maria Island, and this is in large measure because of one man, Diego Bernacchi, an eccentric Italian silk merchant who dreamt of turning it into "the Riviera of Australia", complete with coffee house, resort hotel and every modern luxury.

Bernacchi even printed elaborate brochures extolling the delights of the former penitentiary: "Maria Island, The happy hunting ground of the geologist, naturalist, conchologist, artist and alpine climber."

The tireless entrepreneur also planted a vineyard, using 50,000 clippings from Chateau Lafite. Under the guidance of Italian and Swiss vignerons, the vineyard produced decent table wine - the Sauvignon won third place at Melbourne's Centennial Exhibition.

Bernacchi diversified into hops, limestone mining, timber and fishing. Darlington (renamed San Diego) was furnished with a coffee palace, chalet hotel and a resident population of 250. By 1896, he was broke. The fantasy of turning a picaresque but windswept southern island into a Mediterranean fleshpot had lasted just over a decade - but you can see why he bothered.

Maria Island has witnessed its fair share of suffering and heartache, but I like to think that it is the elfin spirit of Diego Bernacchi who now rules this place of make-believe, shadows and wild bird calls.

Tasmania basics

Getting there Qantas Holidays (0870 600 7060) offers two nights in Hobart and a six-night Taste of Tasmania tour; from £1,369 per person including flights from Heathrow or Manchester and domestic flights to Hobart (stopovers in Sydney and Melbourne).

The Orford-Maria Island ferry runs until April 30. Adult tickets cost £6, children under 14 £3.50. Call 00 61 3 6257 1172. Orford is a one-hour drive from Hobart. Freycinet Adventures (00 61 3 6257 0447, www.freycinetadventures.com) offers four-day sea kayaking trips to Maria Island from £310.

Staying there Campsites have water and firewood. Park fees apply. For the authentic convict experience, book into The Penitentiary (00 61 3 6257 1420) for £8 a night.

What to bring Everything - there are no shops, no electricity and no cars.

More information Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service (00 61 3 6233 6191), 134 Macquarie Street, Hobart 7000. Or visit the Tourism Tasmania website (www.discovertasmania.com). Melbourne named world’s most liveable city Australia river cruise guide Who will be king of the jungle? Not me! How to see an Australian Rules Football game

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